"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." – Theodore Roosevelt
The Tour de France could ride through the Alps for another 100 years, and never see a better stage. In what must be close to the greatest Tour stage of all time, Andy Schleck came back from the dead and turned the 2011 edition abruptly on its head. But the story of this year’s Queen stage, a 200km journey from Pinerolo to the Col-du-Galibier, can only be truly appreciated by looking at the riders who suffered for over 6 hours in the most brutish of all mountain stages.
1st – Andy Schleck – 6hr 7min 56 seconds. A win for the ages. Andy Schleck turned back the clock to the days of Mercx, Coppi, and Bartoli with an outrageous attack over 60km from the finish, on the day’s penultimate climb, the Col d’Izoard. In a move last seen of Floyd Landis on ‘that day’ in 2006, Andy rode the entire peleton off his wheel. He had a two minute gap at the top of the climb – and kept going! Leotard had played the cards perfectly, and with a couple of their riders up ahead having been part of the days break, Andy was able to extend along the valley floor to the Galibier, and by the foot of the climb had built a 4 minute lead on the peleton – and had one foot on the top podium in Paris. Andy managed to maintain his lead for 2/3 of the climb but, unlike Landis’ drug assisted effort in 2006, his immortal performance started to take its toll in the final 10km. Schleck began to tire, and his lead slowly diminished, first to 3:30 then 3 minutes. In the final kilometre Schleck was all over the road like a drunk, and barely had enough energy to cross the finish line. He did however, and pumped his fists above his head in celebration. He had not only won the stage, but in all likelihood won the tour as well. From a rider that had showed the tactial nuances of a 5 year old for most of this year’s today’s win was an act of sheer genius. But Schleck also needed the form to pull of the move. He had looked down and out over the last couple of days but on this day, the day of days, produced the climbing performance of his career, and arguably the last 30 years, to blow away the peleton and write his name forever in the folklore of Tour history.
2nd – Frank Schleck @ 2:07. Probably the Tour’s (worlds?) greatest c**ksucker. Obviously with Andy in front he did absolutely no work in the main bunch, and then had the temerity to kick clear in the final 100m to take time from the day’s true heroes in Evans and Voeckler (more on this later). Prick of a move from a prick of a bloke. Face it Frank – if you rode for Andy like you always should you would never win a race. Next.
3rd – Cadel Evans @ 2:15. A famous John Cleese quote goes as follows:
“It’s not the despair…I can take despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.”
Surely there has been no better description of Cadel Evans. The beauty of sport is its ability to combine pure joy with tragic despair in virtually the same moment, and the heartbreak that Cadel must have felt in the last 90 minutes in the saddle was the despair that perfectly offset the ecstasy of Andy up the road. While Andy took the massive gamble, and rode to glory, there is no doubt in my mind that the true hero on the day was Cadel Evans. 169 riders started Stage 18, and while 167 of them sat back in disbelief as Andy tried to steal the Tour from their very eyes, only one man put up a fight. And that man was Cadel. There was no more tragic sight than Cadel looking around the other ‘pretenders’ in the main field on the top half of the Izoard and the valley rode to Briancon. Evans mast have been stunned that none of the other title contenders seemed interested in pulling back Schleck. Andy’s time advantage grew and grew, and STILL no one would help Evans. By the start of the Galibier, Cadel had had enough. He attacked – and while his acceleration was not enough to break the field, his monstrous power was too much for any other rider to come around him. What followed was one of the most dominant displays over power mountain riding ever seen. For the next 15km Evans single handedly dragged a group of about 20 riders up the Galibier. Schleck’s advantage of the Tour elite was reduced from 4 minutes to two and a half minutes – soley because of Evans. He got no help from anyone, and didn’t ask for any. This was one man trying to save his Tour de France against all odds. While 167 other riders were being left strewn across the Alps, Evans and Andy Schleck where in a 2 man purgatory to decide the who would wear the Yellow Jersey in Paris. By the finish, Evans had reduced his deficit to Schleck to 2:15 seconds. It was probably the bravest defence of a podium position seen since Stephen Roche in 1987. Roche would go on to win the Tour that year. We can only hope we can say the same for Evans on Sunday in Paris.
5th – Thomas Voeckler @ 2:21 – Voeckler threw out his suitcase of courage last night and replaced it with an oil tanker of heroism. He was the day’s second biggest hero, and his performance was only slightly less than that of Evans. While the likes of Alberto Contador and Sammy Sanchez were faffing about at the back of the main group. Voeckler was up at the front of the peleton with Evans for pretty much every single one of the final 50km of the stage. While he simply did not have the energy to help Evans on the Galibier, he managed to stick with him the whole way. As Schleck collapsed over the final kilometre, and Evans continued to display his brute strength, it become apparent that Voeckler was on the verge of retaining his golden fleece. The crowds on the top of the climb went ballistic as Voeckler used what little energy he had lift to get out of the saddle and drag himself towards the line. He made it with 15 seconds to spare, in what was probably the best French sporting performance since Zinadine Zidane’s brace in the 1998 World Cup final. Voeckler’s bravery over these last 10 days deserves a podium place in Paris – but like Evans, tragically, he may finish just one place short of his ultimate goal.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rein Taarame
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Schleckmania Still Alive And Well
While The Falcon may have written off the Queen of Luxembourg for another year - there are still some out there that think (hope!) that the more feminine Schleck can get the job done in 2011:
http://allonsyandy.blogspot.com/
http://allonsyandy.blogspot.com/
Stage 17 - History Repeating
As The Falcon predicted to premium subscribers last night, Stage 17, was pretty much exactly the same as Stage 16. A Norwegian won the stage from a break, Alberto Contador attacked on the final climb, Thomas Voeckler lost time, and Andy Schleck cried like a baby all the way down the final treacherous descent. The stage winner was yesterday’s runner up, Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was far too classy for his breakaway companions, winning by over 40 seconds from Bauke Mollema and Sandy Casar.
But again the big story was Contador, who again showed schlecktives of ominous form by breaking the peleton up on the final cat-2 climb of the day. Again Sammy Sanchez (how good is this guy!!!) was able to go with him, but unlike last night, Cadel Evans could not mark the move. Evans was trapped behind Andy Schleck, who was dozing off, and surely thought Contador wouldn’t try exactly the same trick two days in a row, even though it paid massive dividends for him yesterday. Contador and Sanchez crested first, chased by Voeckler, who would have likely made the juncture, had he not overcooked it on the descent and ended up in one of his countrymen’s alpine properties. Unfortunately, that cost the Frenchman dear, as by the time he got back onto the road the other GC men were out of sight. Try as he might, Voeckler could not make up the ground and by the finish he had lost 27 seconds to his Yellow Jersey rivals. That was time he could not afford to lose if he was to pull off one of the great Tour de France miracles, and he will be little chance of defending the jersey all the way to Paris from here.
Now the only reason the rest of the GC boys finished together is because of one man – Cadel Evans. Realising he will never get a better chance to win a Tour, Evans went berserk on the descent to make sure he would catch Contador and Sanchez, who had reached the top of the final climb ahead of him. The Schleck brothers manned up enough to suck his wheel all the way down to the finish, and by the final kilometre Evans heroic effort had ensured he retained his time advantage over all his major rivals. The only man other than Voeckler to lose time was Ivan Basso who also struggled on the descent. He has put in a brave effort at this year’s Tour but has just lacked that bit of an X-factor to hurt the big boys. He now sits in 9th place overall and will be struggling to make the podium from here.
And so to tonight – the big one – the Queen stage. 200km from Pinerolo to the mythical beast that is the Galibier. No less than 3 HC climbs – and they are all epics – the Agnel, the Izoard, and the Galibier. Three climbs all bigger than the biggest mountain Australia has to offer. This is where the Tour will be decided – this is where Cadel Evans can write his name into Australian sporting folklore alongside the likes of Phar Lap, Sir Donald Bradman, and Rod Laver. Contador will attack like a mad man, Cadel will try to hold him to the best of his ability. Andy Schleck will be picking out his best dress for the occasion (obviously one that matches Frank’s shirt). Come 1:30am tonight – we might just know the winner of the 2011 Tour de France.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
But again the big story was Contador, who again showed schlecktives of ominous form by breaking the peleton up on the final cat-2 climb of the day. Again Sammy Sanchez (how good is this guy!!!) was able to go with him, but unlike last night, Cadel Evans could not mark the move. Evans was trapped behind Andy Schleck, who was dozing off, and surely thought Contador wouldn’t try exactly the same trick two days in a row, even though it paid massive dividends for him yesterday. Contador and Sanchez crested first, chased by Voeckler, who would have likely made the juncture, had he not overcooked it on the descent and ended up in one of his countrymen’s alpine properties. Unfortunately, that cost the Frenchman dear, as by the time he got back onto the road the other GC men were out of sight. Try as he might, Voeckler could not make up the ground and by the finish he had lost 27 seconds to his Yellow Jersey rivals. That was time he could not afford to lose if he was to pull off one of the great Tour de France miracles, and he will be little chance of defending the jersey all the way to Paris from here.
Now the only reason the rest of the GC boys finished together is because of one man – Cadel Evans. Realising he will never get a better chance to win a Tour, Evans went berserk on the descent to make sure he would catch Contador and Sanchez, who had reached the top of the final climb ahead of him. The Schleck brothers manned up enough to suck his wheel all the way down to the finish, and by the final kilometre Evans heroic effort had ensured he retained his time advantage over all his major rivals. The only man other than Voeckler to lose time was Ivan Basso who also struggled on the descent. He has put in a brave effort at this year’s Tour but has just lacked that bit of an X-factor to hurt the big boys. He now sits in 9th place overall and will be struggling to make the podium from here.
And so to tonight – the big one – the Queen stage. 200km from Pinerolo to the mythical beast that is the Galibier. No less than 3 HC climbs – and they are all epics – the Agnel, the Izoard, and the Galibier. Three climbs all bigger than the biggest mountain Australia has to offer. This is where the Tour will be decided – this is where Cadel Evans can write his name into Australian sporting folklore alongside the likes of Phar Lap, Sir Donald Bradman, and Rod Laver. Contador will attack like a mad man, Cadel will try to hold him to the best of his ability. Andy Schleck will be picking out his best dress for the occasion (obviously one that matches Frank’s shirt). Come 1:30am tonight – we might just know the winner of the 2011 Tour de France.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Andy Loses The Plot
A few interesting post race comments from the Queen of Luxembourg:
Younger Schleck, Andy, was particularly aggrieved at having lost more than a minute in such an unfair manner."People don't want a race that is decided in a downhill," he harrumphed at the finish in Gap, forgetting that it had been Contador's series of uphill attacks that had really done for his chances."It was a dangerous finish. I was not feeling great when he attacked and I did a bad descent. But is this really what people want to see? A finish like this should not be allowed. We have families waiting for us at home. Do the public want a fair race or a race which ends in hospital?" he added, on a day which saw no hospitalisations.
This guy is the biggest whinger in world sport and has about as much clue as Tony Abbott. I hope he misses the podium.
Quotes courtesy of Eurosport.
Younger Schleck, Andy, was particularly aggrieved at having lost more than a minute in such an unfair manner."People don't want a race that is decided in a downhill," he harrumphed at the finish in Gap, forgetting that it had been Contador's series of uphill attacks that had really done for his chances."It was a dangerous finish. I was not feeling great when he attacked and I did a bad descent. But is this really what people want to see? A finish like this should not be allowed. We have families waiting for us at home. Do the public want a fair race or a race which ends in hospital?" he added, on a day which saw no hospitalisations.
This guy is the biggest whinger in world sport and has about as much clue as Tony Abbott. I hope he misses the podium.
Quotes courtesy of Eurosport.
Stage 16 - Race in Two
After nearly two and a half weeks of high drama racing, the most open Tour de France in years can now be narrowed down to just two possible winners Cadel Evans, and Alberto Contador. While the 163km on Stage 16 between Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and Gap looked relatively innocuous on paper, Contador and Evans (as well as Sammy Sanchez) were able to put time into all their major rivals. They showed strength, their rivals weakness. Thor Hushovd was the stage winner on the day, taking his second win of this years event from breakaway companions Ed Boasson Hagen and Ryder Hesjedal.
But surprisingly, today was all about the GC, when defending champion Alberto Contador showed he was no quite dead yet with an explosion on the Col de Manse. This was only a cat-2 climb mind you, and while his initial attack was matched by all the main GC men his second was far more devastating. 7km from the summit he went – and only Evans and Sanchez could follow. The Schleck brothers were too busy staring lovingly into each other’s eyes to respond, while Ivan Basso and Thomas Voeckler simply could not match the acceleration. Contador, Evans and Sanchez stayed together to the summit of their climb, where Evans took over – his manic descending allowing the three to build up a bigger and bigger buffer over the flailing GC aspirants behind them. Andy ‘dumb as dogs**t’ Schleck, not realising that his Tour might be being decided right here, got a little scared on the descent and so took it easy to lose even more time than his other rivals. Obviously he had left his own suitcase of courage back in Luxembourg. That is not the kind of soft effort that wins a Tour.
In the end, Evans power over the last few kilometres was ominous, and he even broke away from Contador and Evans late to pick up another vital 3 seconds on GC, the holy trio finishing around 4:23 behind Hushovd on the day. The peleton had been blow apart on the Manse, and the other GC guys came in at irregular intervals. Frank Schleck rode away from his sulking brother and lost only 20 seconds to Evans while Basso was another 32 seconds back. Andy was finally led home like a lost sheep by teammate Maxime Monfort, over 70 seconds behind Evans – his winning chances are shot.
Evans performance over the Tour so far has been immense, and he is clearly this years deserving winner in Paris. But the defending champ Contador is not done yet! El Pistelero showed he was starting to get back to his best, riding with the explosive acceleration and panache that has seen him win the last 6 Grand Tour’s he has contested. He still trails Evans by almost 2 minutes though. So the situation is like this. Contador has to try and blow Evans away on the two big Alpine summit finishes on the Galibier and Alpe d’Huez. I’m not sure how much time he needs. Probably those 2 minutes. The two are both quality time triallers, and while Evans has struggled under pressure in final ITT’s in the past, he has never been in this sort of form in the last week of the tour. At this stage I am marking them even in the final time trial and so it will come down to whoever is leading the GC after the finish on L’Alpe on Friday night. Evans has been able to match everything thrown at him so far though, and you would think those 2 minutes would be mighty hard to claw back. For the first time all Tour, Cadel Evans is the bookies favourite to wear the Yellow Jersey in Paris – and I think they have that betting right. But as we have seen in the past, all it takes is for Cadel to have one bad day in the mountains to lose it all. And if that happens – Contador will be ready to pounce. Bring on the Alps!!!!
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
But surprisingly, today was all about the GC, when defending champion Alberto Contador showed he was no quite dead yet with an explosion on the Col de Manse. This was only a cat-2 climb mind you, and while his initial attack was matched by all the main GC men his second was far more devastating. 7km from the summit he went – and only Evans and Sanchez could follow. The Schleck brothers were too busy staring lovingly into each other’s eyes to respond, while Ivan Basso and Thomas Voeckler simply could not match the acceleration. Contador, Evans and Sanchez stayed together to the summit of their climb, where Evans took over – his manic descending allowing the three to build up a bigger and bigger buffer over the flailing GC aspirants behind them. Andy ‘dumb as dogs**t’ Schleck, not realising that his Tour might be being decided right here, got a little scared on the descent and so took it easy to lose even more time than his other rivals. Obviously he had left his own suitcase of courage back in Luxembourg. That is not the kind of soft effort that wins a Tour.
In the end, Evans power over the last few kilometres was ominous, and he even broke away from Contador and Evans late to pick up another vital 3 seconds on GC, the holy trio finishing around 4:23 behind Hushovd on the day. The peleton had been blow apart on the Manse, and the other GC guys came in at irregular intervals. Frank Schleck rode away from his sulking brother and lost only 20 seconds to Evans while Basso was another 32 seconds back. Andy was finally led home like a lost sheep by teammate Maxime Monfort, over 70 seconds behind Evans – his winning chances are shot.
Evans performance over the Tour so far has been immense, and he is clearly this years deserving winner in Paris. But the defending champ Contador is not done yet! El Pistelero showed he was starting to get back to his best, riding with the explosive acceleration and panache that has seen him win the last 6 Grand Tour’s he has contested. He still trails Evans by almost 2 minutes though. So the situation is like this. Contador has to try and blow Evans away on the two big Alpine summit finishes on the Galibier and Alpe d’Huez. I’m not sure how much time he needs. Probably those 2 minutes. The two are both quality time triallers, and while Evans has struggled under pressure in final ITT’s in the past, he has never been in this sort of form in the last week of the tour. At this stage I am marking them even in the final time trial and so it will come down to whoever is leading the GC after the finish on L’Alpe on Friday night. Evans has been able to match everything thrown at him so far though, and you would think those 2 minutes would be mighty hard to claw back. For the first time all Tour, Cadel Evans is the bookies favourite to wear the Yellow Jersey in Paris – and I think they have that betting right. But as we have seen in the past, all it takes is for Cadel to have one bad day in the mountains to lose it all. And if that happens – Contador will be ready to pounce. Bring on the Alps!!!!
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Stage 15 - Missle Flattens Montpellier
Mark Cavendish became the first rider in Tour history to win 4 or more stages in four consecutive Tours when he was successful in Stage 15 overnight, a 187km transitional stage from Limoux to Montpellier. The Manx man once again benefited from the perfect lead out from his HTC-High Road teammates to take his 4th win at this year’s tour (and 19th overall) from fellow sprinters Tyler Farrar and Alessandro Pettachi. In taking the win, Cavendish increased his lead in the points classification to 37 over Jose Joaquin Rojas who could only manage 5th on the stage. There was no change to any of the other classifications.
In what is arguably the last stage for the sprinters before the finish on the Champs Elysees, Cavendish was never going to be beaten. The stage took the usual form of a flat day out, with a 5-man breakaway allowed to garner around a 3 minute advantage before being reeled in by a combination of Europecar and HTC. Apart from that, not much else happened, although Philippe Gilbert once again tried to break away from the peleton in the closing kilometres to pick up a few extra Green Jersey points. He was easily snapped up by the charging pack however, and was nowhere in the final sprint as a result.
Personally I think those kind of moves are tactically poor from Gilbert, and he probably wastes a lot of energy in undertaken them. He may be being forced into desperation however as the points classification slips from his grasp. Gilbert doesn’t have the pure power to contest a pure sprint finish, and was again beaten into minor placings by Cavendish and Rojas at the day’s intermediate sprint. He probably needs to win Tuesday night’s finish into Gap to have any hope of wearing the Green Jersey on the final podium in Paris.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
In what is arguably the last stage for the sprinters before the finish on the Champs Elysees, Cavendish was never going to be beaten. The stage took the usual form of a flat day out, with a 5-man breakaway allowed to garner around a 3 minute advantage before being reeled in by a combination of Europecar and HTC. Apart from that, not much else happened, although Philippe Gilbert once again tried to break away from the peleton in the closing kilometres to pick up a few extra Green Jersey points. He was easily snapped up by the charging pack however, and was nowhere in the final sprint as a result.
Personally I think those kind of moves are tactically poor from Gilbert, and he probably wastes a lot of energy in undertaken them. He may be being forced into desperation however as the points classification slips from his grasp. Gilbert doesn’t have the pure power to contest a pure sprint finish, and was again beaten into minor placings by Cavendish and Rojas at the day’s intermediate sprint. He probably needs to win Tuesday night’s finish into Gap to have any hope of wearing the Green Jersey on the final podium in Paris.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
Stage 14 - Stalemate on the Plateau
Another day in the Pyrenees, and another day that generated more questions than answers. Thomas Voeckler’s ‘suitcase of courage’ still remains packed to the brim, as the Frenchman managed to hang onto the coattails of all of the big GC riders to hold onto the Yellow Jersey for yet another day. The unknown Belgian from two days ago, Jelle Vanendert, ensured his name would forever more be in the history books, by breaking away on the final climb to win the 168km stage from Saint Gaudens to the Plateau de Beille. In a reversal of Thursday night’s stage, he defeated Samuel Sanchez in second, while Andy Schleck filled the podium third, gaining a pair of precious seconds on the rest of the GC men.
The two main stories of the day were Vockler’s ability to stick with the world’s best climbers, and the fact that men at the top of the overall standings continue to neutralise each other. After Leopard Trek again set the place over the earlier climbs, it seemed to be every man for himself on the final climb to the summit finish. But the big fireworks that were expected again failed to materialise. Andy Schleck was the main protagonist, putting in a number of explosive attacks without reward. Each time he made the move either Voeckler or Cadel Evans was straight on his wheel, and the rest of the lead pack would eventually catch up. Basso also had a crack at riding his rivals off his wheel through the use of brute power but he never had that explosiveness need to shake off the other leaders. In the end, it was the young unknown Belgian who was left free to fly, and he took advantage to take the solo win at the top. The big names also gambled in letting Sanchez go, and while he left it too late to catch Vanendert, he did manage to gain another 25 seconds over the lead pack by the finish. Schleck’s attacking did pay off in the final 500m when he sprinted clear to pick up a couple of cheap seconds over the rest of the leaders. But he is going to need to do more than that to get his hands on the Yellow Jersey.
So all in all, that pretty much leaves us in the same position we were in after the climb to Luz Ardiden. Perhaps the only difference is that Voeckler must now be viewed as a genuine for the contender for the overall title. He looked in zero trouble on the stage and was actually the only man outside of Evans to chase down multiple attacks from Andy Schleck. He still has a lead of nearly 2 minutes over his nearest rival (Frank Schleck) and if he keeps this kind of form up, geez he will be tough to run down. It would be great to see him win the thing! Alberto Contador still looks like he lacks the form to overturn his 4 minute time deficit, while Ivan Basso and Evans are still ticking all the right boxes. We will have to wait for the next rendezvous in the Alps to see if anything changes.
There were a couple of changes in the prize classifications. Jelle Vanendert now has the Polka Dot jersey to go with his stage win, his first place finish at the summit enough to see him take a 2 point lead in the mountains classification from Sammy Sanchez. The lead in the youth classification also changes hands, with the White Jersey now sitting on the shoulders of Rigoberto Uran, who was the only under 25 to finish with the leaders on the stage.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
The two main stories of the day were Vockler’s ability to stick with the world’s best climbers, and the fact that men at the top of the overall standings continue to neutralise each other. After Leopard Trek again set the place over the earlier climbs, it seemed to be every man for himself on the final climb to the summit finish. But the big fireworks that were expected again failed to materialise. Andy Schleck was the main protagonist, putting in a number of explosive attacks without reward. Each time he made the move either Voeckler or Cadel Evans was straight on his wheel, and the rest of the lead pack would eventually catch up. Basso also had a crack at riding his rivals off his wheel through the use of brute power but he never had that explosiveness need to shake off the other leaders. In the end, it was the young unknown Belgian who was left free to fly, and he took advantage to take the solo win at the top. The big names also gambled in letting Sanchez go, and while he left it too late to catch Vanendert, he did manage to gain another 25 seconds over the lead pack by the finish. Schleck’s attacking did pay off in the final 500m when he sprinted clear to pick up a couple of cheap seconds over the rest of the leaders. But he is going to need to do more than that to get his hands on the Yellow Jersey.
So all in all, that pretty much leaves us in the same position we were in after the climb to Luz Ardiden. Perhaps the only difference is that Voeckler must now be viewed as a genuine for the contender for the overall title. He looked in zero trouble on the stage and was actually the only man outside of Evans to chase down multiple attacks from Andy Schleck. He still has a lead of nearly 2 minutes over his nearest rival (Frank Schleck) and if he keeps this kind of form up, geez he will be tough to run down. It would be great to see him win the thing! Alberto Contador still looks like he lacks the form to overturn his 4 minute time deficit, while Ivan Basso and Evans are still ticking all the right boxes. We will have to wait for the next rendezvous in the Alps to see if anything changes.
There were a couple of changes in the prize classifications. Jelle Vanendert now has the Polka Dot jersey to go with his stage win, his first place finish at the summit enough to see him take a 2 point lead in the mountains classification from Sammy Sanchez. The lead in the youth classification also changes hands, with the White Jersey now sitting on the shoulders of Rigoberto Uran, who was the only under 25 to finish with the leaders on the stage.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
Friday, July 15, 2011
Stage 13 - Championship Qualities
"Perhaps one day I will look back on this stage as a great effort, but at the moment I feel too disappointed to see it that way" – Jeremy Roy What looked like being a hum drum day in the Pyrenees produced a stunning final 15km that resembled a three man pursuit race. In the end it was World Champion Thor Hushovd who took the win, from a pair of Frenchman, David Moncoutie, and the extremely brave Jeremy Roy, who led but all for the last 2 of the final 50 or so kilometres. Despite missing the win Roy did not go home empty handing, taking the lead in the Mountains classification by 5 points from Sammy Sanchez.
I’m sure Hushovd will get all the plaudits for his win, the only one of his 9 Tour stage victories to occur in the mountains, but for mine the hero of the day was Jeremy Roy. Roy climbed to the lead on the day’s major ascent of the Col d’Aubisque, and as such, had to ride the final 50km+ alone if he was to hold on for the winner. A lead of around 80 seconds at the top of the climb was gradually whittled down by Hushovd and Moncoutie (with the God of Thunder doing pretty much all the work), and with 15km to go all hope seemed lost for Roy as he led by only 15 seconds. Amazingly he dug deep and maintained that advantage for the next 10 kilometres. Despite the repeated urgings of team manager Marc Madiot, the distance proved just a few short kilometres too far. With around 3km to go Hushovd produced a final burst of acceleration to drop Moncoutier and Roy’s brave resistance ended as he was finally swept up by his two pursuers. With all his energy spent he drifted into third around half a minute behind Hushovd. Pointing to his heart as he crossed the line, I am sure most of world cycling wished he could have held on for the victory.
Outside of the final contest for victory the stage was an absolute fizzer despite the climb up the Aubisque. Europecar controlled the peleton to protect Voeckler’s lead and none of the big leaders were willing to make any moves with 40km of descending remaining from the summit to the finish. The leaders probably had at least one eye on tonight’s epic summit finish but it did look like another case of poor stage design by Tour director Christian Prudhomme. Philippe Gilbert made a strange tactical decision to ride off the front of the peleton on the descent to pick up a few green jersey points at the finish, but Mark Cavendish still holds a relatively comfortable lead in the points classification despite finishing in the autobus (Rojas made it over the Aubisque to lead the peleton home behind Gilbert).
Tonight sees the second of the big Pyrenean stages with three major climbs culminating in Plateau de Beille. Ominously, every rider who has won the stage finish at Plateau de Beille has gone on to win the Tour that same year. Given that, you would think the big favourites would come out to play tonight.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jeremy Roy
White Jersey – Arnold Jeannesson
Photo courtesy of Cyclingnews.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Stage 12 - The King Is Dead
Alberto Contador cannot win this year’s Tour de France. I know it is always risky to write off a champion, but after Stage 12, a 209km trek through the Pyrenees from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden there can be no other conclusion. The Spaniard could only finish 8th on the stage, with 6th of his major GC rivals all gaining time on him. The stage win went to another Spaniard in the form of Olympic Champion Sammy Sanchez. He broke away from the field early on the days final climb and held on to win from little known Belgian and breakaway companion Jelle Vanedert. Frank Schleck, the only one of the major GC leaders to put in a major attack, filled the podium in third. Thomas Voeckler managed to hold onto the Yellow Jersey with a courageous display of climbing, to finish just 50 seconds behind the stage winner.
While the win of Sanchez and the brave performance of Voeckler were the highlights of the day. The big story was the shake up in the battle for the GC in the first real big rendezvous of this year’s tour. Here is a summary of how they went in their current order on GC:
Frank Schleck – 2nd @ 1:49 – was the only one of the big GC guys to attack on the finish up to Luz Ardiden, or perhaps more accurately, he was the only one of the big 5 that the big favourites allowed to let go. Looked good when he did break clear and put 20 seconds into the favourites and now leads Evans by 17 seconds. The question is whether they let him go again and weather he can gain enough time to hang on in the final time trial.
Cadel Evans – 3rd @ 2:06 – Look totally comfortable despite having limited support from his team mates and at no stage did he look to be in any real trouble at all. On that ride alone, his current time advantage over some of the other big names, and his time trial ability, you would think he would be the current favourite. But there is always the feeling his annual mental breakdown is just around the corner.
Andy Schleck – 4th @ 2:17 – Outside Contador I reckon Andy looked the worst of the GC guys. Contador was really struggling and I just get the feeling that a fit Andy would have looked to put more time into him. He seemed to have the most difficulty in matching the surges of Basso and Evans and he will need to improve if he is going to gain enough time in the mountains to win the Tour.
Ivan Basso – 5th @ 3:16 – This guy looked awesome! While he doesn’t have the accelerations of the Schlecks or Contador he has a massive engine that can power up climbs. He sent his Polish teammate Sylvester Szmyd to the front to set the pace on the final climb and destroyed most of the peleton in the process. He looked in no danger and had no problem following any of the attacks. The main negative is that he is already over a minute down over Evans and Frank and will have to hope they have a bad day somewhere to make up that time.
Damiano Cunego – 6th @ 3:22 – It was great to see the little prince back in the form that saw him win the Giro in 2004. He stayed with the big boys for most of the stage and was just tailed off in the final kilometre or so. He has heaps of ability but doesn’t really have the engine to stay with the GC kings over the entire three weeks of a Grand Tour. He can’t win it but with more performances like that is definitely top 10 material.
Alberto Contador – 7th @ 4:00 – G O N E. GONE! El Pistelero was already 90 seconds behind the likes of Cadel Evans before this stage and with only 4 summit finishes at the tour this year had to make his move to try and start making time back on the likes of Evans and Andy. He didn’t even try to attack and at times could barely follow the moves of his rivals. In the end, the elastic finally snapped in the closing kilometre and he lost another 13 seconds to Evans, Andy and Basso. Whether it is knee, the energy exerted at the Giro, or the mental drain from his upcoming doping case before the CAS, he just does not seem to have it this year. For the first time in 7 events, he will not win a three week grand tour that he has started.
Samuel Sanchez – 8th @ 4:11 – I love this guy but I just think (a bit like Cadel) that he is a little too brilliant to win the Tour and is more of a classics man. He has also been hampered by some really poor luck, getting caught up in crashes early in the first week and losing unncesscary time. If he wasn’t already 2 minutes behind the likes of Evans and the Schlecks he would be a definite chance of winning but I just don’t think he will get any more leeway now and won’t be able to make up enough of that lost time.
So what does that all sum up to? The answer is I have NFI! With Contador seemingly collapsing before our very eyes the race is now an absolute lottery. A fit Andy Schleck would be hot favourite now but to my eyes his form looks ordinary. Frank looks in great form but has proven he is an atrocious time trialist at the end of three week races. The man that ticks all the boxes is (wait for it...) Cadel “Don’t Touch My Dog” Evans, but he always seems to be just one day away from a complete collapse in the mountains. That leaves me with Basso, who can be a decent time trialler on his day, but lacks the explosiveness to gain back the time he is already lost in the mountains. If I was dead honest the Tour is now really Cadel Evan’s to lose – which usually means tonight will be the stage where he completely explodes and loses 2-3 minutes. One thing is for sure – the way the race has opened right up we are in for a roller coaster ride all the way to Paris!
While Thomas Voeckler held onto his jersey two prize competitions did see changes. With this the first big day in the mountains, the Tour’s latest sweetheart Johnny Hoogerland gave up his polka dot jersey to Sammy Sanchez, who now leads the competition by 8 points from the Belgian that helped him up Luz Ardiden, Jelle Vanedert. The other change was in the youth classification with Robert Gesink (christ this guy is overrated!) completely collapsing on the Tourmalet to lose his white Jersey. While the jersey was feted to go to young Estonian Rein Taaramae, he wilted on the climb up to Luz Ardiden and the jersey instead passed to little known Frenchman Arnold Jeannesson, who will have been delighted to capture the jersey on Bastille Day. Mark Cavendish extended his lead in the points competition by leading the peleton over the line at the intermediate sprint, situated just before the start of the day’s three massive passes.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Polka Dot Jersey – Samuel Sanhez
Green Jesrey – Mark Cavendish
White Jesrey – Arnold Jeannesson
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Stage 11 - Order Restored
Stage 11 of this year’s Tour, a 168km wet ride from Blayes-les-Mines to Lavaur, was pretty much ho hum and went to the usual script. Peleton lets break go, peleton catches break, races ends in sprint finish. Cavendish wins. Textbook Le Tour. Mark Cavendish got some payback for yesterday’s defeat when he easily held of Stage 10 winner Andre Greipel for the win. Stage 2 winner Tyler Farrar completed the podium in third.
In taking the win Cavendish grabbed his first lead in this years points competition, and will wear the Green Jersey into first major mountains stage tonight. Cavendish now has a 16 point lead over former jersey wearer Jose Joaquin Rojas, who could only manage 7th on the stage. Philippe Gilbert was unsighted at the finish and slipped from first to third in this competition. Now that Cavendish has the jersey, you would back him to hold it all the way to Paris (although he has been in this position before and lost it). The new points system seems to suit him, as aswell as getting a bigger points advantage for winning stages, he can also pick up a few points over his rivals in intermediate sprints. That trend continued today, with Cavendish easily leading the main group over the line at the intermediate sprint point ahead of Rojas.
In terms of the other competitions there was no change in the standings. Thomas Voeckler again held the Yellow Jersey with ease, and it will be very interesting to see if he can hold onto it tomorrow as the race sees its first summit finish at Luz Ardiden. The same can be said for everyones new favourite rider Johnny Hoogerland. The Dutchman has put on a brave face since being thrown into a barbed-wire fence in the ‘cargate’ incident, but with so many mountain points on offer tonight you would think it would take an herculean effort for him to hold the jersey. Robert Gesink still leads in the youth classification.
But after all the shadow-boxing the real stuff starts tonight. 200+km, a cat-1 to warm up, and then the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden to finish. There will be nowhere to hide. With Contador needing to make up time whenever he can he will have to make his move at some stage. Anyone wanting to stand on the top podium in Paris this year will have to go with him. Can’t wait!
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Polka Dot Jersey – Johnny Hoogerland
Green Jesrey – Mark Cavendish
White Jesrey – Robert Gesink
Stage 10 - Greipel's Revenge
Geez German’s annoy me. If they are not starting wars, committing genocide, or building walls right down the middle of their capital, then they are beating the world at sport. This was no better exemplified than in Stage 10 of this years Tour, a 161km flat stage from Aurillac to Carmaux when German Andre Greipel took his first ever Tour de France stage win. In the process, he beat fierce and bitter rival Mark Cavendish into second. Green jersey candidate Jose Joaquin Rojas completed the podium in third, just ahead of World Champion Thor Hushovd in 4th.
Credit must go to Greipel who was out powered by both Cavendish and Alessandro Pettachi on the most recent sprint finish (Stage 7). That day he went early and faded late, but this time he got his sprint absolutely right. The HTC-High Road team of Cavendish had destroyed themselves chasing down Phillipe Gilbert and Thomas Voeckler in the final 3km as the Green and Yellow jersey wearers made last ditch attempts at would have been a famous victory. But they were reeled in by the sprint hungry HTC machine, in the process leaving Cavendish isolated with only one lead out man. That left the Manxman exposed, and Greipel took full advantage. This time it was Cav who went too early. Greipel got into his slipstream – pulled out at the right moment – and powered over the top of the missile to win in a photo finish. It was a brilliant ride and good luck to him. But I still don’t like the guy.
There was no change in the overall classification race with Thomas Voeckler retaining his grip on the yellow jersey with relative ease – Johnny Hoogerland did likewise with the polka dot jersey as did Robert Gesink with the White. Philippe Gilbert maintained his hold over the Green jersey, although his ill advised attempted at a breakaway victory allowed Rojas to close the gap at the top of this competition.
Apart from that, little else happened on what was pretty much a regulation sprint stage. None of the GC contenders lost any time and Alberto Contador showed no real ill effects of his supposed knee injury.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Polka Dot Jersey – Johnny Hoogerland
Green Jesrey – Jose Joaquin Rojas
White Jesrey – Robert Gesink
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